Holiday Shorts

12/20/2020

Summary: A collection of One-Shots and Short Stories that are mostly unrelated and non-sequential and will probably be mostly Klaine (may expand). The holidays are often just a jumping off point/reference of time/place.

AN: totally by accident, first story I thought of... a New Years Story. It is a short story – so may come in 2 parts or so. Some background. I was introduced to a new concept recently – SoulMarks. So far, I have only come across 2 stories that had this concept but it was the first fandom I'd seen it in (which is unique in it's own rate, since the other fandoms I read are very much fantasy based which would have been more fitting there). Those stories went down some paths that I wasn't entirely fond of but the concept intrigued me. So I did some research and things happened and then ended up coinciding in this story. I'm not going to go into great detail in the fic, it's going to be something that they accept just like the sun is yellow-orange, you stop at red lights and you need air to breath. So because of that, there will need to be some inference needed in this one/I'll explain if you'd like/there will be some exposition explaining it/discussion between characters.

(Teeny-tiny edit that makes the rest of the timeline make since on 1/1/2021).

1A

New SoulMarks Eve

"3...2... Ow!"

Kurt bent over clutching his midsection. It felt like someone had taken a hot poker to the entire thing. There were some chuckles around the room and he was clapped on the back.

"Even more reason to celebrate the New Year!" One of his friends laughed and held out a Champagne glass to replace the one he'd dropped. It was thankfully unbroken. Oh his boss would have had a field day if he'd broken one of her priceless stemware on the gorgeous carpet. It was bad enough that there was half a glass of Champagne in it.

"Club soda will get it out." One his coworker/friends said with a small smile. "We'll hire a cleaning crew for it tomorrow. There's bound to be many spills among other things. At least it won't stain a different color. Even if you had, she'd have understood, she's gone through it herself."

Kurt supposed that was true enough and tried not to feel too guilty about it. "I- yes, ok, thank you." The room was looking at him knowingly and expectantly. "What?"

His friend, Chandler, looked at his face then his stomach where he'd bent over in pain and then his face again. "Well, aren't you going to look?"

"What for? It'll be there tomorrow." Kurt shrugged, the pain had already faded into a distant memory.

"Aren't you curious? You could know him already."

"If I'd already met him, wouldn't you think that he and I would already be together?"

"I don't know..." Chandler frowned lightly. "You and I dated for a bit... before we decided we were better as friends. Maybe the opposite is true with him. Maybe you and I were already dating when you met him and friend-zoned him or he was too young for you at the time, or..."

Kurt held a hand up to quiet his friend. "We dated because we were both lonely. It was the wrong reasons to do so and we realized our mistakes before either got hurt. This is different." It was also a pain where it showed up because it would require a lot of maneuvering with clothes to be able to see and he'd rather do so in the privacy of his own home with his own mirror. "Besides, Adam and I are in a really good place right now."

"Do you really think that if Adam had gotten his today, that he'd stay in the relationship?" Biting his lip in response, Kurt didn't have to say anything because Chandler was smart and he'd caught on quickly. "So... if not his... then when it went off?" Kurt looked away and Chandler gasped. "But that's practically like cheating!"

Kurt looked back at Chandler with a small frown. "I'm not a cheater and neither is Adam. We were together for two years before his Mark showed and another before it lit up in technicolor. We've been together an additional three months since."

"Does he know who it is?" Chandler hedged, hoping that the opposite was true.

"He's not sure... he's only got initials." Kurt whenever he looked at them was reminded of Harry Potter – Salazar Slytherin to be exact. They were even green and he scowled every time he looked at them, not because his boyfriend of three and a quarter years had been marked – it was bound to happen eventually, not because he'd somehow however briefly, interacted with his intended, but because the letters gave Kurt a bad vibe. He didn't think the owner of those initials was worthy of his boyfriend. Didn't think he'd be good for him. He'd asked Adam if he wanted out to go find the owner of the initials and he'd been given a very convincing no. If Adam had wanted the opposite, he would have had a very long and difficult road ahead of him trying to sort out who it was.

Obviously their interaction together had left a lasting impression on Adam. Kurt rolled his eyes at that thought.

"How can you not even be remotely curious?" Chandler pressed and the others in the room had gone back to mingling and ignored Kurt's lack of interest in his Mark. Suddenly he was glad that Adam wasn't with him, Adam would have smirked and would have taken Kurt into the bathroom to investigate for him. Adam was sure that Kurt felt the same way about the Marks. They'd talked about it often enough. "You don't want to meet him and see if there's anything there?"

"Again, Adam and I are solid, we're happy, we're highly attracted to each other and we're best friends. We have fun times and serious times together. We're a tried and true couple and we're good together. Why would I throw that away for some unknown? Why would he? We're not waiting around for some unknown entity to come into our lives. Why should we trust some mystical being to make these decision for us? It just means you don't have a heart or care if you break up with someone just because something else said so. You've got to trust your heart and gut and brain. Why go on blind faith when you have evidence and time and trust with the one you're with?"

"Still... I'd be glad to know that there's someone out there just for me." Chandler sounded wistful and Kurt hated to burst his bubble and so tried not to by changing the topic but Chandler kept on. Kurt hadn't wanted to talk about in the first place.

"How would you know he hadn't been with every guy in the tri-state area who would have him? What if he's married with kids? What if he's a serial killer?"

"A. You wouldn't know if any one was actually a serial killer or leading a double life until you discovered it, even if you knew him for years. B. God, you're right. He could be terrible, or worse, taken! I would never want to break up a relationship, especially marriage. Life begins well before 25. Oh god, what if he were... straight?"

Kurt had to hand it to Chandler, he took the crown in dramatics. "Or what if he was a woman?" Kurt added on with a tease and Chandler's face started to get a green tinge to it. "Relax, hopefully they wouldn't do that to you."

"But he could also be amazing and gorgeous and a man that you didn't realize that you needed in your life until he was there." Chandler's face turned dreamy.

"I've got who I want." Kurt had been somewhat lucky, he didn't have to see that Mark on Adam very often, it was on his shoulder blade. Whereas Kurt's was... well, something that Adam couldn't not see if they continued their current sexcapades. Poor Adam and in turn, poor Kurt.

"At least if you ever did want to go look for him, it'd be fairly easy and on the plus side, you're near the same age!"

Kurt rolled his eyes. "I'm sure whatever name is now permanently on my body is going to be fairly common and do you know how many people turned 25 in the last 12 months around the world?"

"So? You'd just meet all of them until it gives you more information." Chandler waved that concern off. "Do you know what it's like to be in his position? He doesn't have a clue how old you are. You could be anywhere from 25 to a 105." They both shuddered at that range between ages. Kurt was glad that he hadn't fallen into that latter category. "At least you know now that he's out there, it's been confirmed." Chandler rubbed his bicep, he hadn't had his name show up and while Kurt and Chandler were the same age, Chandler was dying to learn who his SoulMark was. He'd sworn off dating near the end of the year and never got more serious than a few dates or hook ups. He didn't want to hurt anyone during the holidays, especially. This all started the Christmas before New Years Eve when they both turned 25. Kurt had been his last boyfriend and they'd been 21 at the time.

Kurt had been relieved that nothing had happened, whereas Chandler had been devastated. Now that Kurt was 28, he had practically forgotten about SoulMarks and the possibility it could happen to him. He wasn't lying, he was very happy in his relationship with Adam. He couldn't imagine anything better. He'd known it could happen any year but he stopped caring once Adam had waved away any concern about his lit up tat.

The concern wasn't completely gone but it was much better now. Kurt had wanted Adam here at this party with him but he'd had his own schmoozing to do with his own place of employment. Even if he hadn't, he'd been less than thrilled with New Years ever since those initials carved their way onto his back. They'd both be liars if they hadn't said they had hoped it would be Kurt's name scrawled there, but Kurt would have felt it too and they'd known before they even looked at the unfamiliar letters. It was the first time Kurt realized SS and himself were born in the same year. Woah. Kurt began to wonder if he'd been the one to know the initials and introduced those two at some event. Adam's crowd tended to be... older.

For the first time, he was glad Adam wasn't at the New Years party and was starting understand his aversion to the holiday. It was beginning to add itself to Kurt's own prefer not to think about holidays.

"Can I at least see or know the name? I'm a sucker for Mark meet ups."

Kurt shook his head no. "I'm not interested in seeking him out. I've already explained that. Meeting him, having the mark light up, it's just going to complicate things."

"Until you meet him, you don't know what you're missing!" Chandler pushed.

"Chandler. No." Kurt held his gaze. "I do not want to, I'm not interested. You could apply that to every single person. If you haven't met him, if you haven't tried it, then you don't know what you're missing. It's an ongoing cycle. Chasing what-ifs cause you to lose sight of the very real, very good thing you could have right in front of you, you may already have."

Chandler grumbled. "Just saying... I wouldn't let this opportunity pass me by."

"You're a hopeless romantic that buys into all of that." Kurt patted him on the shoulder, finally drank his Champagne to bring in the New Year and hoped that it wasn't an omen that this year wasn't going to go smoothly, just like his count down. He really wanted and needed a peaceful and good year after all the stuff that had happened before.

The party ended at 3 am and he got home before Adam did. He changed into his pajamas and called his father who would be up until he talked to Kurt. This was their annual tradition ever since he was 20 and moved out to New York. They would start the year together and Kurt told him about his Mark, just because it has happened.

"Well if you did want to go look for him, you're able to cut down half the population of 25 year olds." That took into account people who identified as the opposite gender than they'd been born as, but didn't account for non-binary.

Kurt pulled his waist band of his boxers and snorted. "Sorry dad, but that theory just went out the window. Apparently there's a possibility you could have biological grandkids after all. What a cosmic joke." His voice was dry and humorless. For on his hip was a name he wouldn't be able to pin on just one gender. "The name of my intended is Blaire."